Jose de Wit
SUN Staff Writer
An unexpected snag in accommodating more than 300 ninth-graders at Española Valley High School has raised the ire of parents and teachers and led to a negotiation session between frustrated students and Española School District administrators.
The controversy revolves around a seemingly innocuous subject: lunch.
Faced with about 25 percent more students to feed than last school year, Superintendent David Cockerham split the high school’s lunch hour into two separate periods. Students scheduled for science, social studies or most electives during second period eat lunch at 10:30 a.m., while students who take math, English or physical education during second period eat about an hour later.
Cockerham first said the decision came down to state occupancy regulations, which allows the high school cafeteria to serve a maximum of one student for every 15 square feet. At that rate, the 7,000-square-foot cafeteria can accommodate a maximum of 466 students at once. The high school enrollment oscillated around the 960-student mark as of the second week of the school year, meaning even with two lunch periods the high school could theoretically break the occupancy regulation, according to data provided by the District.
Even last year, and most likely the years before that, the high school cafeteria broke occupancy regulations. State data shows the school enrolled 746 students last school year, and they all shared one 50-minute lunch period. The school’s overall enrollment grew by roughly 200 students when the ninth grade, whose students until last school year went to Española middle school, became part of the high school.
“I guess we were just faking it,” Cockerham said, snickering. “It’s the only explanation, let’s be honest.”
Cockerham argued another obstacle kept the high school from “faking it” another year. The lunch period is 10 minutes shorter this school year, and serving so many students at once would take up most of the lunch period. Serving half the school’s students during either of the split lunch periods takes roughly 15 minutes.
The split lunch period ruffled the feathers of students and teachers, who say the move pulled the plug on student clubs.
The high school until this year had fed all its students at once in a single 50-minute lunch period, during which student clubs such as the student council and the National Honor Society could meet weekly. The split lunch left students without one, single block of time in the school day during which all students are out of class and available to meet for extracurricular activities.
Already, students like senior Carlos Abeyta are feeling the consequences. Abeyta has been involved in student government all of high school and had his heart set on running for student council secretary this year, he said. But Abeyta is assigned to eat during the first lunch period, and student council held its first meeting during the second lunch period.
“They chose all the positions there. They chose the homecoming theme there. They chose everything,” Abeyta said. “I’m disappointed. All my friends are running, and I wanted to run with them. I’ve been in student council like, forever, and I have good ideas for the school.”
Abeyta placed responsibility for his situation directly on Cockerham.
“He’s bringing all these new students here with no plan, with nothing set. It’s disruptive,” Abeyta said, also pointing out construction delays that have temporarily displaced half the high school’s social studies classes. “I don’t know what he was thinking, but this is all something he should’ve thought of.”
The problem was compounded by Principal Bruce Hopmeier’s decision to schedule the first lunch period at 10:30 a.m. School Board members questioned Cockerham on the lunch period after they received calls from parents angry because their children are eating lunch so early.
Board member Leonard Valerio said most of the complaints he heard were from parents of athletes, some of whom had to attend their 3:30 p.m. practice on an empty stomach after eating lunch at 10:30 a.m.
Hopmeier, who initially requested to have a single lunch period, argued it is better to schedule lunch too early than too late. He said hungry students get restless, especially mid-morning.
Some teachers also argue that the early lunch disrupts their second-period classes. While the later lunch is scheduled neatly between second and third period, the early lunch chops in half the 100-minute long second period. Students break for lunch halfway through second period, then resume for the second half of class 40 minutes later.
The arrangement is giving science teachers in particular a hard time, Damon McGinn said. State law requires students to take at least one science laboratory class during their high school career. The early lunch period interrupts the second-period chemistry lab McGinn teaches.
“It makes doing meaningful labs impossible,” McGinn said. “You have to account for prep time, set-up time, the time they actually spend doing it, then the clean-up time. And you have an interruption in the middle. It’s doable, but the quality is not there.”
An alternate plan Cockerham is working on would make both lunch periods later and would provide time for clubs to meet, but would not address McGinn’s concerns. Cockerham said he developed the plan after a private meeting with a group of students Aug. 21.
Administrators and students both offered proposals at the meeting, but neither agreed on a solution. For example, administrators rejected the students’ idea of allowing all seniors to buy lunch off campus, Cockerham said. Another student idea — a single, one-hour lunch block — was similarly rejected, student council president Joseph Madrid said.
“At least we talked and we’re both agreeing that there is a problem because all of our student activities, we can’t have clubs,” Madrid said.
The alternate plan would extend the school day by 15 minutes — five minutes in the morning and 10 in the afternoon — and shorten class blocks by five to 10 minutes to create a new 30-minute “activity block” immediately after second period during which clubs could meet, Cockerham said. One group of students would eat during a first lunch period immediately afterward, roughly around noon, while the other half start their third period class. That second group of students would take a break halfway through third period.